The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Spider-man: No Way Home’ post-credits scenes, explained
The first features a special guest star; the second, a trailer.
The two post-credits scenes in “Spider-man: No Way Home” are as otherworldly as the movie itself.
The first features a special guest star who may or may not be a part a part of Spider-man’s cinematic future: Venom the Lethal Protector (and yes, Venom thinks “Lethal Protector” is a bit much and even says so in this scene).
Tom Hardy may have not been on your “No Way Home” bingo card of actors showing up in this film, but there he is as Eddie Brock, sitting at a bar and getting a quick history lesson on the Avengers from a bartender. The appearance makes sense when you factor in the post-credits scene in October’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which hinted at Hardy’s Brock already being in Spider-man’s world.
The “No Way Home” scene is quite the spidey-sense tingler. As Brock and his alien symbiote Venom begin describing the Avengers he’s just learned about, you can’t help but envision a scenario in which these classic comic book foes are battling it out in a movie rematch. One that would make up for the sins of their first meeting in 2007’s “Spider-man 3,” which was not as well-received as the first two, resulting in a franchise reboot in 2012.
Before you can daydream about he who was once Bane
going after Spider-man under the supervision of Marvel Studios magician Kevin Feige, Brock/venom (like every notin-their-actual-universe character in this film) fades away to where they originally came from. But not before leaving a significant Easter egg behind.
A little black blob of
Brock’s Venom symbiote suit is seen plopping around after the disappearing act and is now stuck in Tom Holland’s Marvelsonyverse.
Could Holland’s Spider-man be on his way to having his own little black suit saga, like Tobey Maguire’s had in “Spider-man 3,” when a black alien goo took over his spidey-suit, made him go crazy and then abandoned him for a Brock played by Topher Grace? Perhaps this could be a chance to bring a comic book-accurate version of Spider-man’s black suit — one of the most popular suit redesigns in superhero history — to the screen instead of the painted-over black suit that appeared in “Spider-man 3.”
Any potential consequences from this “No Way Home” scene just might depend on how many more Spider-man movies Tom Holland has left in his web shooters.
The second post-credits scene is less spider-villains, more sorcery. It’s basically a trailer for the next Marvel Cinematic Universe event that connects to the events of “No Way Home,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of
Madness,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Sam Raimi.
In Marvel Studios’ Spider-man trilogy, there is always an MCU giant sort of babysitting Spider-man. First movie? Iron Man. Second movie? Nick Fury. This time around it was Doctor Strange, who must now try to fix a broken multiverse he doesn’t understand, with the help of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff of “Wandavision” fame.
If there’s one thing that “Loki” and “Wandavision” over at Disney Plus have taught us, it’s that toying with the fabric of reality has consequences.
When “Multiverse of Madness” comes out in May, it will probably try to fix the multiverse damage that took place in “No Way Home.”